TSMC (TWSE: 2330, NYSE: TSM) today announced consolidated revenue of NT$868.46 billion, net income of NT$374.68 billion, and diluted earnings per share of NT$14.45 (US$2.24 per ADR unit) for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2024. Year-over-year, fourth quarter revenue increased 38.8% while net income and diluted EPS both increased 57.0%. Compared to third quarter 2024, fourth quarter results represented a 14.3% increase in revenue and a 15.2% increase in net income. All figures were prepared in accordance with TIFRS on a consolidated basis.

In US dollars, fourth quarter revenue was $26.88 billion, which increased 37.0% year-over-year and increased 14.4% from the previous quarter. Gross margin for the quarter was 59.0%, operating margin was 49.0%, and net profit margin was 43.1%. In the fourth quarter, shipments of 3-nanometer accounted for 26% of total wafer revenue; 5-nanometer accounted for 34%; 7-nanometer accounted for 14%. Advanced technologies, defined as 7-nanometer and more advanced technologies, accounted for 74% of total wafer revenue.

Jon Peddie Research (JPR) reports that shipments of integrated and standalone GPUs exceeded 251 million units in 2024, marking a 6% year-over-year rise. This growth continues to outpace the shipment figures for client CPUs, given that most desktop and laptop processors include built-in graphics, and that leading suppliers such as AMD and NVIDIA also provide tens of millions of discrete GPUs annually. Thanks to some earlier per-quarter data, we find that in the desktop segment, JPR shows that manufacturers shipped about 18.2 million discrete graphics cards in the first half of 2024—a 46% increase compared to the same period in 2023. However, shipments slowed in the third quarter, falling to 8.1 million units, down from 8.9 million units in Q3 2023.

Analysts partly attribute this dip to inventory adjustments at AMD, along with the end of product cycles for Ada Lovelace and RDNA 3 GPUs. Typically, the fourth quarter sees a boost in discrete GPU purchases as gamers gear up for new software releases. Yet it is not entirely clear whether that trend held through late 2024. Early indications suggest that total graphics card shipments for the year lightly exceed the totals from 2023, thanks primarily to strong demand in the first half. We still need data from Q4 of 2024 to see the trend in its final months of the year, despite knowing that the year-over-year growth is 6%. Nonetheless, current levels appear unlikely to approach the elevated peaks observed in 2021 or 2022.

Nanya Technology Corporation, today announced its results of operations for the fourth quarter, ended December 31, 2024. Nanya's quarterly sales revenue was NT$ 6,575 million, a 19.2 percent decrease compared to that in the third quarter of 2024. In the fourth quarter of 2024, average selling prices (ASP) decreased by low-teens percent and bit shipment decreased by high-single digit percent quarter over quarter.

Gross loss of the quarter was NT$ 695 million; gross margin was -10.6 percent, a 13.8 percentage points decrease from that in the previous quarter. Operating loss of the quarter was NT$ 2,812 million; operating margin was -42.8 percent; a 12.0 percentage points decrease from that in the last quarter. Non-operating income of the quarter was NT$ 900 million. The Company had net loss of NT$ 1,574 million, with net margin of -23.9 percent. Earnings per share (EPS) was NT$ -0.51 in the fourth quarter (based on weighted average outstanding shares of 3,099 million).

Every year, Valve holds The Steam Game Awards, a community-driven initiative to recognize the best games that were launched in that year. Valve has just released the results for the 2024 Steam Game Awards, which are determined by community vote—as opposed to events like The Game Awards, which feature a jury selection—and split into individual categories. This year, though, the overall winner for Game of the Year was Black Myth Wukong, which beat out other finalists: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, Balatro, and Helldivers 2 for top spot. Game of the Year wasn't Wukong's only victory, either, with the game also taking home the "Outstanding Story-Rich Game Award," which seems logical given its overall victory, and the cleverly named "Best Game You Suck At Award," which is meant to highlight the best difficult game of the year. In this category, Black Myth Wukong was up against Dragon Ball Z Sparkling Zero, The Finals, Ghost of Tsushima, and Tekken 8, which is again a very diverse mix of games and genres, so it's somewhat interesting to see a narrative-driven game like Wukong come out ahead here.

The rest of the Steam Game Awards 2024 was less of a one-man show, with Metro Awakening VR taking Best VR Game of the Year, Elden Ring nabbing the Labor of Love Award, and God of War Ragnarök taking the Best Game on Steam Deck Award. Helldivers 2 won Better with Friends, while Silent Hill 2 took home the Outstanding Visual Style Award, Liar's Bar won Most Innovative Gameplay, Red Dead Redemption won Best Soundtrack Award, and Farming Simulator 25 was crowned with the Sit Back and Relax award, beating out the likes or Webfishing, House Flipper 2, and Tiny Glade. One of the more surprising "minor" awards winners here is God of War Ragnarök taking home Best Game on Steam Deck, since you often hear in discourse around the Steam Deck that it's not suitable for AAA gaming, and God of War is only two years old at the time of writing, meaning it is still very demanding, with an NVIDIA GTX 1060 6 GB quoted as the minimum recommended GPU to play the game.

A new security breach is trying to pump the brakes on Path Of Exile 2's overwhelmingly positive late 2024 launch, as a mysterious hack appears to be making the rounds in the new RPG, although the source of the vulnerability is yet to be identified. According to a growing number of posts on the Path of Exile 2 forum, subreddit, and even the game's Steam reviews, players are apparently logging into their PoE 2 accounts only to find that all their loot and gear they've now spent dozens or even hundreds of hours grinding for, has been removed from their accounts. The most alarming thing is that nobody seems to know how these hacks are happening. Some players say they changed their main email address and Steam login passwords days before they were hacked, and most seem to have no Steam 2FA requests, suggesting that there is either a security issue with the Path of Exile 2 game servers or there is some sort of session hijacking happening that is giving bad actors access to player accounts.

Until now, Grinding Gear Games, the developer behind Path of Exile 2, has not openly commented on the hacking incidents, with a single comment from the support team on the forum advising players to email support about it if they encounter such instances. According to the Steam review mentioning an account hacking incident, however, the player managed to track down the hacker on his own, subsequently contacted support and posted about it in the PoE 2 forum, and asked the moderator to assist in preventing the sale of the rest of his goods. This attempt was apparently enough to get the gamer's forum posts removed and put on probation. Meanwhile, the support request was met even more unkindly, with PoE 2 support going so far as to lock him out of his own account. He also isn't alone, with others in the Path of Exile 2 forum reporting that sharing the in-game name of their alleged hacker with support has led to their game account being locked.

A significant legal challenge has emerged for Intel's leadership as shareholders aim for the company's representation of its foundry business performance. LR Trust has filed a lawsuit against former CEO Pat Gelsinger and current co-CEO David Zinsner, seeking to return substantial executive compensation amid allegations of misleading statements and financial mismanagement. The lawsuit centers on Intel Foundry Services (IFS), a division that was once positioned as a crucial growth engine for Team Blue. The Intel Foundry, as it is now called, is here referred as Intel Foundry Services, which was its older name back in 2023. According to court documents, LR Trust claims that while Intel's leadership painted an optimistic picture of IFS's trajectory, the division struggled to attract major clients and accumulated significant losses. Gelsinger's $207 million compensation package is at the heart of the dispute, where shareholders now demand that these funds should be returned to the company.

The legal action also targets additional compensation received by Zinsner, arguing that executive rewards were secured through misrepresenting the company's financial health. The allegations point to a troubled 2023, during which Intel's chip production unit reportedly lost $7 billion. These challenges extended into 2024, as increased investments in new fab facilities further strained the company's finances. The lawsuit alleges that executives issued "materially false and misleading" statements regarding cost savings and revenue potential, ultimately driving shareholder value to the very bottom. LR Trust's legal filing accuses Intel's leadership of breaching its financial duties through inadequate internal controls and inaccurate financial disclosures. Beyond seeking the return of executive compensation, the lawsuit pursues damages and legal cost reimbursement, with any recovered funds potentially being returned to Intel's coffers. Intel has yet to respond formally to these allegations. This is just another lawsuit in line as Intel already has several other lawsuits going on, with one recent from August.

Micron Technology, Inc. today announced results for its first quarter of fiscal 2025, which ended November 28, 2024.

Fiscal Q1 2025 highlights

• Revenue of $8.71 billion versus $7.75 billion for the prior quarter and $4.73 billion for the same period last year
• GAAP net income of $1.87 billion, or $1.67 per diluted share
• Non-GAAP net income of $2.04 billion, or $1.79 per diluted share
• Operating cash flow of $3.24 billion versus $3.41 billion for the prior quarter and $1.40 billion for the same period last year

"Micron delivered a record quarter, and our data center revenue surpassed 50% of our total revenue for the first time," said Sanjay Mehrotra, President and CEO of Micron Technology. "While consumer-oriented markets are weaker in the near term, we anticipate a return to growth in the second half of our fiscal year. We continue to gain share in the highest margin and strategically important parts of the market and are exceptionally well positioned to leverage AI-driven growth to create substantial value for all stakeholders."

TSMC (TWSE: 2330, NYSE: TSM) today announced its net revenue for November 2024: On a consolidated basis, revenue for November 2024 was approximately NT$276.06 billion, a decrease of 12.2 percent from October 2024 and an increase of 34.0 percent from November 2023. Revenue for January through November 2024 totaled NT$2,616.15 billion, an increase of 31.8 percent compared to the same period in 2023.

During the prestigious IEDM 2024 conference, NVIDIA presented its vision for the future AI accelerator design, which the company plans to chase after in future accelerator iterations. Currently, the limits of chip packaging and silicon innovation are being stretched. However, future AI accelerators might need some additional verticals to gain the required performance improvement. The proposed design at IEDM 24 introduces silicon photonics (SiPh) at the center stage. NVIDIA's architecture calls for 12 SiPh connections for intrachip and interchip connections, with three connections per GPU tile across four GPU tiles per tier. This marks a significant departure from traditional interconnect technologies, which in the past have been limited by the natural properties of copper.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of NVIDIA's vision is the introduction of so-called "GPU tiers"—a novel approach that appears to stack GPU components vertically. This is complemented by an advanced 3D stacked DRAM configuration featuring six memory units per tile, enabling fine-grained memory access and substantially improved bandwidth. This stacked DRAM would have a direct electrical connection to the GPU tiles, mimicking the AMD 3D V-Cache on a larger scale. However, the timeline for implementation reflects the significant technological hurdles that must be overcome. The scale-up of silicon photonics manufacturing presents a particular challenge, with NVIDIA requiring the capacity to produce over one million SiPh connections monthly to make the design commercially viable. NVIDIA has invested in Lightmatter, which builds photonic packages for scaling the compute, so some form of its technology could end up in future NVIDIA accelerators

The World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization has unveiled its latest projections for the global semiconductor market, highlighting robust growth expectations for 2024 and 2025.

2024: A Year of Strong Rebound
In its updated fall forecast, WSTS has revised its 2024 projections upward, anticipating a significant 19.0% year-over-year growth in the semiconductor market. The global market value for 2024 is now estimated to reach $627 billion, reflecting improved performance in second and third quarter of 2024, particularly in the computing sector.

When Intel announced the completion of its $7.86 billion CHIPS Act grant from the Biden-Harris administration on Tuesday, we assumed some special terms were tied to the grant. Intel is essentially making a law-abiding promise to the US government that it will not sell its stake in the Intel Foundry unit under any circumstances, even if it manages to become an independent entity. This ensures that Intel is the major voting party in any event. Intel disclosed in a regulatory document that if Intel Foundry becomes its own private entity, Intel must maintain majority control with at least 50.1% ownership to keep its subsidy agreements. Additionally, if Intel Foundry goes public in the future, no single investor would be allowed to acquire more than 35% of shares unless Intel remains the largest shareholder, as this would trigger control-change clauses.

This essentially positions Intel Foundry as too big and too important of a unit to fail, both for Intel and the US government. Given Intel's ties with the US Department of Defense, with up to $3 billion in direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act for the Secure Enclave program, Intel is vital for providing the US government with advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Strategically, Intel Foundry is the sole US-based company that competes with advanced manufacturing companies such as TSMC and Samsung. Even with TSMC and Samsung driving investments on US soil with advanced fabs, Intel's work with the government requires additional safety and secrecy clearances that only a US firm could provide. In the latest Q3 2024 financial results, Intel Foundry recorded a revenue of $4.4 billion with $5.8 billion in losses. While the operating marking of negative 134.3% seems like a disaster, upcoming quarters will bring it to a positive with more customers and using already developed nodes like 18A.

Apple is reportedly considering diversifying its chip manufacturing strategy with a new silicon manufacturer: Intel. While the upcoming iPhone 17 series, expected next year, will likely feature A19 chips produced by TSMC, a recent rumor from Chinese leaker Fixed Focus Digital hints at a potential switch to Intel for the A20 chipsets powering the 2026 iPhone 18 series. The A18 and A18 Pro chipsets debuted alongside the iPhone 16 series in September 2024, manufactured using TSMC's N3E node. Apple's A19 chips are expected to upgrade to TSMC's N3P node. According to the source, Apple is seeking an Intel 20A node. However, since the A20 node is canceled in favor of 18A, Apple could be an Intel Foundry customer for either 18A or 14A nodes.

Despite the buzz, skepticism persists. Intel has historically struggled with process node transitions and even outsourced production of its Arrow Lake CPUs to TSMC, raising questions about its readiness to deliver on Apple's demands. On the other hand, alternative reports suggest Apple might stick with TSMC's yet-unnamed 2 nm node for the A20, maintaining continuity in its supply chain. As the iPhone 18 series remains two years away, much can change. For now, we are left speculating whether this rumored collaboration with Intel represents a new chapter in Apple's chipset innovation or just a rumor with little substance. If the US government mandates more domestic production, chip designers could be looking at some of the more local manufacturing options, like Intel does on US soil. That could force Apple, NVIDIA, AMD, and Qualcomm to look into Intel's offerings.

Worldwide silicon wafer shipments increased 5.9% quarter-over-quarter to 3,214 million square inches (MSI) in the third quarter of 2024 and registered 6.8% growth from the 3,010 million square inches recorded during the same quarter last year, the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) reported in its quarterly analysis of the silicon wafer industry.

"The third quarter wafer shipment results continued the upward trend which started in the second quarter of this year," said Lee Chungwei (李崇偉), Chairman of SEMI SMG and Vice President and Chief Auditor at GlobalWafers. "Inventory levels have declined throughout the supply chain but generally remain high. Demand for advanced wafers used for AI continues to be strong. However, the silicon wafer demand for automotive and industrial uses continues to be muted, while the demand for silicon used for handset and other consumer products has seen some areas of improvement. As a result, 2025 is likely to continue upward trends, but total shipments are not yet expected to return to the peak levels of 2022."

According to the market research firm Mercury Research, the desktop CPU market has witnessed a remarkable transformation, with AMD seizing a substantial 28.7% market share in Q3 of 2024—a giant leap since the launch of the original Zen architecture in 2017. This 5.7 percentage point surge from the previous quarter is a testament to the company's continuous innovation against the long-standing industry leader, Intel. Their year-over-year growth of nearly ten percentage points, fueled by the success of their Ryzen 7000 and 9000 series processors, starkly contrasts Intel's Raptor Lake processors, which encountered technical hurdles like stability issues. AMD's revenue share soared by 8.5 percentage points, indicating robust performance in premium processor segments. Intel, witnessing a decline in its desktop market share to 71.3%, attributes this shift to inventory adjustments rather than competitive pressure and still holds the majority.

AMD's success story extends beyond desktops, with the company claiming 22.3% of the laptop processor market and 24.2% of the server segment. A significant milestone was reached as AMD's data center division generated $3.549 billion in quarterly revenue, a new record for a company not even present in the data center in any considerable quantity just a decade ago. Stemming from strong EPYC processor sales to hyperscalers and cloud providers, along with Instinct MI300X for AI applications, AMD's acceleration of data center deployments is massive. Despite these shifts, Intel continues to hold its dominant position in client computing, with 76.1% of the overall PC market, held by its strong corporate relationships and extensive manufacturing infrastructure. OEM partners like Dell, HP, Lenovo, and others rely heavily on Intel for their CPU choice, equipping institutions like schools, universities, and government agencies.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), one of the leading semiconductor foundries in the world, today announced its consolidated results of operations for the three months ended September 30, 2024.

Third Quarter 2024 Highlights

• Revenue was $2,171.2 million in 3Q24, compared to $1,901.3 million in 2Q24, and $1,620.6 million in 3Q23.
• Gross profit was $444.2 million in 3Q24, compared to $265.1 million in 2Q24, and $321.6 million in 3Q23.
• Gross margin was 20.5% in 3Q24, compared to 13.9% in 2Q24 and 19.8% in 3Q23.

GlobalFoundries Inc. (GF) today announced preliminary financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2024.

Key Third Quarter Financial Highlights

• Revenue of $1.739 billion
• Gross margin of 23.8% and Non-IFRS gross margin of 24.7%
• Operating margin of 10.6% and Non-IFRS operating margin of 13.6%
• Net income of $178 million and Non-IFRS net income of $229 million
• Non-IFRS adjusted EBITDA of $627 million
• Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $4.3 billion
• Year to date net cash provided by operating activities of $1,265 million and Non-IFRS adjusted free cash flow of $779 million

The battles of operating systems continue, and one fight is internal to the Microsoft Windows user base. Recent data from StatCounter shows that Windows 11 now accounts for 35.58% of Windows installations as of October 2024, recording a modest 3% increase. Meanwhile, Windows 10 continues to power most Windows computers, with a 61% market share. The gradual shift toward Windows 11 comes as Microsoft pushes software updates and hardware partnerships. Large organizations have begun adopting the newer OS, drawn to its updated security features. These include mandatory secure boot protocols and improved protection against credential theft, addressing growing cybersecurity concerns. For individual users, Windows 11 offers updated gaming capabilities through DirectStorage and a redesigned interface. However, many still prefer Windows 10's established stability and broader compatibility with existing hardware and software. Microsoft's recent announcement of a $30 yearly Extended Security Updates subscription acknowledges this divide.

Starting in October 2025, when Windows 10's standard support ends, users can purchase these updates to maintain security protections. Unlike previous programs restricted to business customers, this subscription will be available to all users. The move to Windows 11 faces a significant hurdle: strict system requirements that exclude many older computers. While these standards aim to ensure better performance and security, they effectively prevent many current Windows 10 users from upgrading. Microsoft's plan to add new AI features like Recall and Copilot to Windows 11 could attract more users. Still, the transition largely depends on hardware replacement cycles and users' willingness to adapt to a new system. As Microsoft manages both operating systems, its strategy reflects the challenge of maintaining existing Windows 10 installations while encouraging gradual migration to Windows 11.

Intel Corporation today reported third-quarter 2024 financial results.

"Our Q3 results underscore the solid progress we are making against the plan we outlined last quarter to reduce costs, simplify our portfolio and improve organizational efficiency. We delivered revenue above the midpoint of our guidance, and are acting with urgency to position the business for sustainable value creation moving forward," said Pat Gelsinger, Intel CEO. "The momentum we are building across our product portfolio to maximize the value of our x86 franchise, combined with the strong interest Intel 18A is attracting from foundry customers, reflects the impact of our actions and the opportunities ahead."

Supermicro shares took a big hit today when Ernst & Young quit as its auditor, making its stock fall over 30%. EY decided to leave because of their worries in July about how Supermicro runs things, shares information, and keeps track of its money. In August, Supermicro delayed its annual report as they were looking over internal financial controls following Hindenburg Research's allegations of accounting manipulation. Ernst & Young's letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about quitting says they can't trust what the company's leaders say anymore. They also don't want their name on the company's financial papers after discovering new information during their check. "We are resigning due to information that has recently come to our attention which has led us to no longer be able to rely on management's and the Audit Committee's representations and to be unwilling to be associated with the financial statements prepared by management."

Supermicro doesn't agree with the accounting firm's decision, and they say fixing these problems won't mean they have to redo any of their financial reports from 2024 or earlier. Commenting on this subject, Nathan Anderson, the founder of Hindenburg, said in a post on X, "As far as auditor statements go, E&Y's SMCI resignation letter is about as strongly worded as I have seen." According to The Wall Street Journal, the Department of Justice is currently looking into the company. Supermicro will present its first quarter fiscal 2025 business update on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. ET / 2:00 p.m. PT.

During the 2024 RISC-V Summit in Santa Clara, California, NVIDIA was one of the presenting members. RISC-V, being a free and open-source instruction set architecture, is an interesting choice for many companies looking to develop custom solutions. NVIDIA designs accelerators for AI and graphics processing, all of which are equipped with up to tens of thousands of cores. To manage these cores, NVIDIA has developed a custom RISC-V processor called "NV-RISCV," which is a replacement for its predecessor "Falcon." Unlike Falcon, NV-RISCV is based on an open-source ISA and is customized much more deeply, with features like more customized caches and special instructions. Initially, the company reported better performance over its Falcon GPU System Processor (GSP), and NV-RISCV is now running in millions of NVIDIA chips.

Thanks to a post on X by Nick Brown, we learn that NVIDIA is shipping roughly one billion RISC-V cores in the year 2024. Each NVIDIA chip includes between 10 and 40 RISC-V cores, depending on the chip size and complexity. Some more complex designs, like GB200, require massive data coordination, meaning that more cores are needed to handle these requests and distribute them. This includes chip-to-chip interfaces, context switching, memory controller, camera handling, video codecs, display output, resource management, power management, and more. NVIDIA has developed a total of over 20 custom extensions for RISC-V cores, which all serve their specific use cases.

Global shipments of silicon wafers are projected to decline 2% in 2024 to 12,174 million square inches (MSI) with a strong rebound of 10% delayed until 2025 to reach 13,328 MSI as wafer demand continues to recover from the downcycle, SEMI reported today in its annual silicon shipment forecast.

Strong silicon wafer shipment growth is expected to continue through 2027 to meet increasing demand related to AI and advanced processing, driving improved fab utilization rate for global semiconductor production capacity. Moreover, new applications in advanced packaging and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) production, which require additional wafers, are contributing to the rising need for silicon wafers. Such applications include temporary or permanent carrier wafers, interposers, device separation into chiplets, and memory/logic array separation.

TSMC today announced consolidated revenue of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.50 billion), net income of NT$325.26 billion (US$10.08 billion), and diluted earnings per share of NT$12.54 (US$1.94 per ADR unit) for the third quarter ended September 30, 2024. Year-over-year, third quarter revenue increased 39.0% while net income and diluted EPS both increased 54.2%. Compared to second quarter 2024, third quarter results represented a 12.8% increase in revenue and a 31.2% increase in net income. All figures were prepared in accordance with TIFRS on a consolidated basis.

In US dollars, third quarter revenue was $23.50 billion, which increased 36.0% year-over-year and increased 12.9% from the previous quarter. Gross margin for the quarter was 57.8%, operating margin was 47.5%, and net profit margin was 42.8%. In the third quarter, shipments of 3-nanometer accounted for 20% of total wafer revenue; 5-nanometer accounted for 32%; 7-nanometer accounted for 17%. Advanced technologies, defined as 7-nanometer and more advanced technologies, accounted for 69% of total wafer revenue.

Microsoft's Flight Simulator 2024 is shaping up to be a pretty demanding title. From the very high-performance system needed for ideal system specifications, the game now uses up to 180 Mbit/s of internet bandwidth while the user is in flight and the terrain is loading. This is equivalent to as much as 81 GB per hour of internet data, which is a nightmare for users with a data cap. Data caps are often standard in US homes, with internet providers imposing their own rules on up to 1 TB of uncapped traffic, which considerably slows down after that. The new Flight Simulator 2024 may be a bit much for users who don't have powerful systems and data plans.

The Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 requires 30 GB of storage for the game. The alpha version comes in at only 9 GB, meaning that it is pulling much of its resources from Microsoft's servers, thus requiring this massive bandwidth to operate smoothly. Microsoft recommends a 50 Mbit/s internet connection for the final game, meaning that the final 30 GB install will pack more textures, thus lowering the massive load on Microsoft's servers. Of course, the 180 Mbit/s is the peak load, and the lowest measured load is around 10 Mbit/s. The game typically runs below 50 Mb/s, but this peak value is quite noticeable.

TSMC announced that its revenue for September 2024 reached NT$251.87 billion (US$7.80 billion), representing a 39% increase compared to the same month last year. The cumulative revenue for the first three quarters of 2024 climbed to NT$2,025.85 billion (US$62.72 billion), showing a 32% year-over-year growth. The company's third-quarter revenue amounted to NT$759.7 billion (US$23.52 billion), exceeding TSMC's own guidance of NT$706.6 billion to NT$731.5 billion (US$22.4 billion to US$23.2 billion). TSMC will report full third-quarter earnings on Oct. 17.

A report from Data Center Dynamics quotes sources saying that, due to increasing demand from NVIDIA and others, TSMC has been forced to change its CoWoS capacity expansion plan several times. In response, TSMC is building two more fabs, named P4 and P5, in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, raising the company's total number of facilities in the region to five. Four months ago, the company announced that it would build a third 2 nm fab at Nanzih Technology Industrial Park in Kaohsiung. The company's P1 fab, which started in August 2022, is expected to begin mass production next year, while P2 and P3 are still in the construction phase. TSMC's CoWoS monthly capacity is expected to reach more than 40,000 wafers by the end of 2024, 65,000 wafers in 2025, and at least 80,000 wafers in 2026.

Even though the global economy shows signs of recovery, worldwide shipments of traditional PCs dipped 2.4% year-over-year (YoY) to 68.8 million units, during the third quarter of 2024 (3Q24), according to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. Factors including rising costs and inventory replenishment led to a surge in shipments in the previous quarter, resulting in a slightly slower sales cycle.

"Demand, without a doubt, has returned for PCs amongst consumers and commercial buyers," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers. "However, much of the demand was still concentrated at the entry-level thanks to a recovering economy and the back-to-school season in North America. That said, newer AI PCs such as Copilot+ PCs from Qualcomm along with Intel and AMD's equivalent chips as well as Apple's expected M4-based Macs are expected to drive the premium segment in coming months."